The security situation in return areas and IDP settlements in the North-east remains conditionally volatile and largely unpredictable following the 40-day ultimatum by government in July to capture or kill the leader of the main Boko Haram faction. On 27 July, 48 people including the military and university researchers were found dead when their convoy was ambushed while returning from an oil exploration mission to the Lake Chad Basin. The tragic incident took place took place 90 kilometres north of Maiduguri, Borno State capital. About 8 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were also killed when their camps were attacked by suicide bombers on 23 and 28 July in Maiduguri and Dikwa in Borno. Several other attacks by the insurgents targeting humanitarian convoys and villages also killed nearly 15 people in the state in the last two weeks alone. The wave of increased attacks further underscores the potentially explosive nature of the insurgency and its humanitarian consequences. Consequently, as multiple Boko Haram factions step up their attacks in Maiduguri and other places, there is some anxiety as residents including humanitarian workers have been advised to exercise extra vigilance and caution.